Pomp & Surkanstance

03 November 2009

EPNW: Tracey De Leeuw explains how affiliate programs can be the key to web marketing success

In this episode of "Entrepreneurs Northwest" Tracey De Leeuw talks about how blogging, tweets, and social networks can all be an integral part of a web marketing strategy. Rather than spam their services everywhere, companies should target the groups, and communities, most relevant to their target audiences. Content itself is key, however, since no amount of promotion will help draw interest in content with little value. Tracey also explains that affiliate programs, and referral commissions, are an oft overlooked aspect of web marketing that can make the difference with success or failure for many web businesses.

Check out Tracey's videos on 40 ways to grow on-line (for less than $40) for more of her great marketing insights.

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NOTE: Check out the complete podcast directory of discussions with entrepreneurs. If you would like to be a guest on Entrepreneurs Northwest, to talk about your business venture, contact Michael Surkan.

02 November 2009

EPNW: Sincerity is key to success on Twitter

In this episode of "Entrepreneurs Northwest" Phyllis Zimbler Miller talks about how Twitter should be an imporant part of any web marketing campaign. The key to using Twitter successfully is to be genuine. Phyllis recommends avoiding the automated tools that rack up followers to focus on building relationships that matter. The new "lists" feature holds a lot of potential, but it's not clear yet how this will be used by the community, or how to best take advantage of it.

Check out Phyllis' advide on power marketing at http://www.millermosaicllc.com/. Her newest project is http://www.filmsthatsupportourtroops.com/. You can also follow Phyllis on Twitter.

31 October 2009

Round table economics discussion - 2009-10-30

In this episode of the Optimistic Bear round-table economics discussion Matt Stiles joins us as a guest, filling in for our regular participants who are unavailable this week. We talk about the paradox of a declining stock market at the same time that the economic news was so positive this week and the financial stresses that local governments are experiencing with pension obligations. If the global economy is indeed about to head to new lows emerging markets that have been seeing some of the largest gains recently could catch the brunt of the decline. McDonald's recent decision to leave Iceland may be an indicator of things to come as globalization takes a breather.

Check out Matt Stiles' blog at http://futronomics.blogspot.com/.

NOTE: Tune in to the weekly economics round-table discussions to hear the latest from the Optimistic Bear. You can view the complete list of Practical Economics podcasts to hear conversations with the experts.

30 October 2009

EPNW: marymac outlines a complete web marketing strategy

Get your pens ready. In this episode of "Entrepreneurs Northwest" Marymac walks us through a complete web marketing strategy for aspiring web startups. Any web marketing strategy starts by understanding where your money comes from, and will incorporate a variety of tools and activities. There is no single solution (like search advertising) for a successful marketing strategy. It's all about integrating your various efforts into an effective whole.

You can follow marymac on twitter.

EPNW: Eric Goldman explains B2B inbound marketing

In this episode of "Entrepreneurs Northwest" Eric Goldman explains business to business marketing, and describes how effective inbound marketing can help generate the qualified leads that companies are looking for. Good content, search word optimization, and asking a few questions all play a part in finding customers.

Check out Gossamar's web site for advice on BtoB in-bound marketing strategies.

29 October 2009

EPNW: Rajeev Goel finds finds invention out of necessity

In this episode of "Entrepreneurs Northwest" Rajeev Goel talks about how necessity is the mother of invention. His efforts to build a web site to manage his own daughter's science fair inspired him to create a service that any school could use. For now he is going it alone, creating http://oursciencefair.com/Home.aspx as the one-stop solution for managing and promoting science fairs. The challenge now is getting the word out, and Rajeev has been taking advice from fellow entrepreneurs about getting active in communities and reaching out to bloggers.

NOTE: Check out the complete podcast directory of discussions with entrepreneurs. If you would like to be a guest on Entrepreneurs Northwest, to talk about your business venture, contact Michael Surkan.

Job search tales: John Polhill gives an insider's view to corporate recruiting

In this episode of "Tales from the job search trenches", John Polhill gives an insiders perspective to the world of corporate recruiting. Amongst many other gems of wisdom, John explains that on-line job applications aren't a complete waste of time, but you have to know how to game the system and prepare your resume to make it through screenings. He also gives guidance on the questions you need to ask before heading into an interview, and to be very wary when you are applying for a completely new position.

You can ask your job search questions to the renegade tech recruiter at http://askjohnpolhill.com/. John also offers http://www.cgtpa.org/ as a great location that not only provides heaps of advice on job searches, but has feeds from all the best job listing services.

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NOTE: Please contact Michael if you are interested in being a guest on "Tales from the job search trenches" podcasts. Michael would like to discuss your job search strategy, and brainstorm ways to improve it with you.

27 October 2009

Job search tales: ponkabonk pays for placement

In this episode of "Tales from the job search trenches", Mike Hogan talks about how his desire to have more control over his own job search led him to create http://www.ponkabonk.com/, where job seekers can offer to pay commissions for successful placements. Friends and acquaintances have more incentive to take a bigger role in your job search when they stand to get paid for their efforts. Recruiting professionals have even been getting involved with Ponkabonk, using this as a resource to find great candidates (and make a little extra).

NOTE: Please contact Michael if you are interested in being a guest on "Tales from the job search trenches" podcasts. Michael would like to discuss your job search strategy, and brainstorm ways to improve it with you.

25 October 2009

EPNW: Tim Ellis has the eyeballs but little revenue

In this episode of "Entrepreneurs Northwest" Tim Ellis explains how he has built http://www.seattlebubble.com/ into on of the most popular real-estate web sites in the Pacific Northwest bust hasn't figured out how to generate significant revenue from. Pre-packaged advertising services from Google and Microsoft are of marginal value and direct advertising sales look far more promising. Tim also hopes to explore affiliate programs with select partners. Now, if he can only find the time to continue creating winning content while holding down a day job.

EPNW: Pandu & Harish seek success by giving

In this episode of "Entrepreneurs Northwest" Pandu Rao talks about how he and his partner (Harish Kulkurni) have built a social network bookmarking service (http://iter8r.com/) that they hope to give away to the community. They count on their public spirited business model to attract users and set them apart from the competition. Success for iter8r won't make Harish and Pandu rich, but it will teach them about how communities work, and enhance their credibility for future ventures.

24 October 2009

EPNW: Denis Altudov goes it alone

In this episode of "Entrepreneurs Northwest" Denis Altudov has struck out on his own to devote all his energies to his iPhone applications that are already selling pretty well. He is excited about being able to examine, and analyze, the entire end-to-end user experience, from product acquisition to support. As fun as it is to be working on his own Denis does want to find some colaborators to help with design and marketing.

Check out Denis' software at http://www.memengo.com/.

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NOTE: Check out the complete podcast directory of discussions with entrepreneurs. If you would like to be a guest on Entrepreneurs Northwest, to talk about your business venture, contact Michael Surkan.

EPNW: Bruce Roberts thinks people trump ideas

In this episode of "Entrepreneurs Northwest" Bruce Roberts talks about the search for his next startup venture. Now that he's helped make a success of startups as a key contributor, he is now looking to become a principal, getting the venture going from the ground up. There are plenty of ideas for businesses around, but Bruce is focussing on good partners to complement his skills. The ideas will come on their own.

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The blog Bruce mentioned he likes for startup advice is http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/.

NOTE: Check out the complete podcast directory of discussions with entrepreneurs. If you would like to be a guest on Entrepreneurs Northwest, to talk about your business venture, contact Michael Surkan.

23 October 2009

Round table economics discussion - 2009-10-22

In this episode of the Optimistic Bear round-table economics discussion Elliott, Jeremy and Kevan talk about whether the dollar is set to fall even further and if the tech industry has turned the corner. Is Windows 7 really the engine that will "save" Microsoft? Has Apple found the magical formula to success even in a recession? The law of supply and demand is called into question, with concerns that it might not be sufficient to explain why currencies rise and fall (or at least the way most people interpret the law to work).

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Here is the link to the article about innovation in a recession that was mentioned in the podcast.

NOTE: Tune in to the weekly economics round-table discussions to hear the latest from the Optimistic Bear. You can view the complete list of Practical Economics podcasts to hear conversations with the experts.

Job search tales: recruiters aren't all bad

In this episode of "Tales from the job search trenches", Jordan Shaw talks about his life as a recruiter. "Good" recruiters really are willing to go the bat for quality candidates, and job seekers can make fast friends of placement professionals by lending a hand with introductions to employers. His suggestion that it is better to focus on a handful of potential employers, and really build relationships, er than applying everywhere is something every job seeker should heed.

Jordan also offers a lot of great advice as to which internet tools to use for researching employers and finding recruiters. Don't just blast mail to every recruiter there is, find the ones who specialize in your field and region.

Check out Jordan's recruiting agency web site for information about tech-jobs in the Pacific Northwest.

Here are a list of links to Jordan's favourite tools and networking groups:

NOTE: Please contact Michael if you are interested in being a guest on "Tales from the job search trenches" podcasts. Michael would like to discuss your job search strategy, and brainstorm ways to improve it with you.

22 October 2009

Job search tales: LinkedIn is your friend

In this episode of "Tales from the job search trenches", Rob Gelhausen tells us how LinkedIn is the indepensible tool for job seekers. Rob shares the tips he has learned in his years of experience as a recruiter and job coach, in offering advice as to which activities are the most (and least) productive for job seekers.

Check out Rob's web site for lots of free information on looking for new opportunities.

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NOTE: Please contact Michael if you are interested in being a guest on "Tales from the job search trenches" podcasts. Michael would like to discuss your job search strategy, and brainstorm ways to improve it with you.

Job search tales: paying it forward

In this episode of "Anatomy of a job search", Dan Callahan tells us how helping other people, and participating in communities, can yield dividends in both networking and searching for a job. People should be open to helping others as part of their effort to grow contacts, rather than be narrowly focused on activities that have a direct monetary reward.

Dan discusses how the modern employee needs to make a job search a permanent part of their life, always networking and maintaining contacts that will come in handy the next time they are in need of a new job. He also tells us how his varied roles in marketing, finance, and even HR have led him to have a deeper understanding of business needs. Finance people look at business problems in very different ways from product managers, and vice versa.

You can check out Dan's blog for his views on life, business, and gardening (amongst other things).

EPNW: A business thrives in a recession by lowering your tax bill as prices fall

In this episode of "Entrepreneurs Northwest" Charlie Walsh tells us how http://www.valueappeal.com/ was brought to life in six months, and started making revenue on the first day. Even better, his business of helping home owners appeal the assessments of their homes to reduce their tax bills is particularly popular when the economy is poor. With a success on his hands, Charlie is now facing the challenge of expanding his offering throughout the nation, and raising the capital to do so.

Microsoft Program Management for Dummies: the video

This is the video of my presentation of what it takes to succeed at being a program manager at Microsoft. This provides an insider's guide to Program Management at Microsoft: the myth and the reality.

I go into more depth than my article on the subject, relating personal experiences from my career at Microsoft, as well as offering tips on how to apply and interview for PM work.

My thanks go to the Puget Sound Chapter of the Association for Women in Computing, which graciously allowed me to record the presentation I made at their October 2009 meeting.

Job search tales: it's all about networking

In this episode of "Anatomy of a Job Search", Mark Warren discusses how the job market has undergone massive changes in the last year, and that many of the old strategies for finding employment are no longer very effective. Building networks at targeted companies should be the top priority of job seekers, but they also need to continue building relationships with recruiters and applying to job postings (even though these efforts don't yield a lot of results).

Mark has coached many hundreds of candidates on the intricacies of the job search in his 30 year career as a coach and teacher. His deep experience in recruiting and career coaching offer a rich vein of knowledge for job seekers.

You can read more about Mark's suggestions on his blog.

21 October 2009

The world's best financial & economics analyst

I would like to announce that www.surkan.com has just joined the affiliate program of Elliott Wave International. This is the financial newsletter service that I have come to view as indispensable. I have been a subscriber for years, and find that their analysts are the closest to my own views of anything there is.

The EWI view that society, and the economy, moves in cycles (or waves, in their parlance), has had a profound impact on my view of economics and the world. It’s not the “news” that drives the big changes in society, rather it is changes in society that create the news.

I have never fully bought into the complex wave theory that EWI uses, with which they will plot (and predict) trends in the stock market, but their general technical analyses has been dead on the money as to where the economy was headed, even if their timing hasn’t always been the best. EWI is one of the only authorities to call for deflation (which they still maintain is ahead), and they were way ahead in seeing the growing financial storm that was brewing. Astonishingly, EWI has held these bearish views without falling into the trap of conspiracy theories, blaming everything on nefarious cabals and manipulators.

I whole-heartedly recommend EWI to all of my readers. They have a free membership service (Club EWI), which allows you to access some basic articles, and they have various levels of paid subscriptions to the different newsletters they offer.

Right now EWI is offering a free series of courses based on Bob Prechter’s book “Conquer the Crash”, which offers very useful advice on protecting yourself from the growing depression.

Incidentally, I had the great privilege of going to lunch with Bob Prechter (the EWI founder) when he was visiting Seattle earlier this year.

In the interests of full disclosure, as an EWI affiliate member I do gain a commission for all subscribers (even the ones using the free Club EWI service) that come from Surkan.com. If you do decide to sign up to EWI (which I highly recommend), please use the links on Surkan.com (in the advertisement banners, or this post) so that I will get some credit.